History of the Oriental Orthodox Churches

Rev. Deacon Gebre Kristos Nicholas Siniari serves as the Secretary of the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches in America (SCOOCH) and the Ecumenical Officer of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of New York & New England. In addition, he also serves as the Deacon for Youth and English Service in the Eritrean Orthodox Diocese of North America. Deacon Gebre Kristos holds an MA in World History (with a focus on the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean and Northeast Africa) from Rutgers University and an MA in Applied Orthodox Theology from the University of Balamand. He is presently pursuing his PhD at the University of Leicester in the UK, where his research is focused on Orthodox Christian mission and evangelism in the Western Hemisphere, most particularly the mission of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church to the Rastafari of the West Indies. In accordance with his role as Secretary of SCOOCH - an organization committed to the unity of the Armenian, Coptic, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Syriac, and Malankara-Syriac Churches - much of Deacon Gebre Kristos's work is focused on finding ways to bring our Oriental Orthodox communities in the United States together in an organic way at the grassroots level. Every year, he helps to organize pan-Oriental Orthodox concelebrations of the Divine Liturgy in New York, Philadelphia, the Midwest, and other parts of the country, as well as youth conferences and spiritual days that bring our people together. His abiding passion is for the spread of the Orthodox Faith in North America, most particularly among English-speaking converts.